


one year (the fall of olympus)

by captainofmysoul (orphan_account)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hypothetically, M/M, Post-Gaea & The Second Giant War (Percy Jackson), gaea wins in the end, no happy ending, oops spoilers, the dialogue is horrible i'm sorry, the warnings are there for a reason, this is pure angst and hopelessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24046174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/captainofmysoul
Summary: i wrote this two whole years ago, and this is my way of psyching myself up to posting more recent stuffon a serious note, this is literally pure angst, please read the tags and be careful of the warningsthis is basically an au that came to me in a dream and i wrote it within two days, it's been sitting in a google doc for two years, technically beta'ed by my dear friend who is a much better writer than me
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, mostly percabeth but the others are mentioned
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	one year (the fall of olympus)

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this two whole years ago, and this is my way of psyching myself up to posting more recent stuff
> 
> on a serious note, this is literally pure angst, please read the tags and be careful of the warnings
> 
> this is basically an au that came to me in a dream and i wrote it within two days, it's been sitting in a google doc for two years, technically beta'ed by my dear friend who is a much better writer than me

It had been one year since Olympus fell.

Really, Percy should have known better. Kronos started the process, destroying the Olympians’ seats of power, then replacing them with decoys, gifts from Hecate. How the Gods failed to realize, he didn’t know. Then, in the Giant War, Gaea sent an army to destroy Zeus once and for all. Even concentrating all their collective firepower, the army was barely able to finish the job, and no monsters made it out of Olympus alive. And all the gods could not bring back their king. Most immortals went into a panic after that.

Meanwhile, the unlucky Seven, as Percy now thought of the former crew of the Argo II, were captured in Athens, as the giant army could not be defeated without the assistance of the gods.

Then all Hades broke loose.

Many good demigods, and other allies, perished in that bloody massacre. The Camp Half-Blood counselors, Thalia, Octavian, almost all of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. The survivors, the Amazons, and Hunters of Artemis were captured, facing the same fate as Percy.

But that wasn’t enough for Gaea. She tried to wipe out all life that dared to walk across her surface. Not that he had seen the surface recently, but Percy imagined it would’ve looked like the aftermath of an especially bloody battle. The wildlife was likely all gone, and the mortals too. On a brief parole, Percy was allowed to see his parents, Sally on the brink of death, Paul with no fight left in him, allowing himself to be taken away for execution.

It had been one year since Olympus fell.

Percy whispered through the crack in his wall, asking Frank to relay a message to Annabeth. It wasn’t the same, hearing her words through Frank’s mouth, but he should be thankful for gaps that allowed Frank to play messenger. But that didn’t ease his suffering at all.

Now, Percy was sure he was next, him and Annabeth. Yesterday, he heard Piper’s screams to Jason, begging him to stop, to never bend to Gaea’s will. No one knew what happened to them after that. The day before that he had heard Nico wrestled from his cell, no doubt matched up against Will. Nico hadn’t been in the best state stuck in a cell, but assuming the rumors had been true, he was worse than anyone else had known. As soon as he had a blade in his hand, Nico had driven it into his own stomach, releasing a horde of skeletons and a horrible wave of death and sickness to the first few rows of the audience. Poor Will didn’t last much longer, meeting his end in the same way as his beloved boyfriend. Frank said he had heard from a different race of demigods, children of Egyptian and Norse gods, et cetera. The whole concept gave Percy vertigo, but he remembered Annabeth telling him about her cousin in Boston. Percy had never met him, but he feared he was now dead.

Percy had plenty to dwell on, but his thoughts were always on Annabeth. He hadn’t seen her face or heard her voice for about a month. Leo and Jason recently got into a fistfight, a result of all the pent-up anger that all the demigods felt. That was the last time Percy had actually seen anyone but his guards.

It had been one year since Olympus fell.

Percy had tried to reason with the telkhine outside his cell door. He thought that since their race dwelled in the sea, he might have a chance. But that particular telkhine was loyal only to Gaea now.

The same demon opened the cell door, a frame fitted with Celestial bronze bars. On a whim, Percy quickly grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the cold bare wall, grabbing his blade. It was a small Greek-style sword, but it appeared to be a mixture of deadly magical metals. Not that it mattered. It had been so long since Percy had a weapon, and he was itching to use it.

“Scream for help, and you’ll soon have bigger problems.”

The telkhine was so shocked he sank to the floor immediately. Percy was also shocked. He didn’t think that little move would actually work. But he had bigger things to worry about.

Percy ran to a door, two cells to the right of the one he just exited. One year. The other telkhine guards were already rushing over, but Percy disarmed and disintegrated one so easily all the rest backed off. How can gods be killed? “Annabeth! Back up!”

“Percy? What the hell, you idiot! Don’t-“

He rushed the door with all the anger he had kept bottled up inside for a year, the adrenaline from fighting again, his elation at hearing Annabeth’s actual voice, the fury of the sea.  
He thought it would work.

He just bounced off - literally, because the door was surrounded by a magical barrier.

“Percy!”

“No, Annabeth, I’m going to get you out of here, I promise. Hold on, wise girl!”

He raised his borrowed blade. Caught up in the moment, he heard the rush of footsteps too late. Percy felt his sword being yanked from his hands, and couldn’t turn to face his attacker before they slammed the hilt into his head.

As Percy lost consciousness, he heard Annabeth screaming after him, words so tangled with emotion that they were unintelligible. No. Never again…

Then all went black.

It had been one year since Olympus fell.

After he came to, the rest of the morning was a blur. Percy was aware of a muffin being pressed into his hand. Breakfast was a luxury Gaea did not provide her captives with, usually. Not for the first time, he wondered where Poseidon was, if he too was defeated by giants, perhaps Polybotes.

Then he felt a blade at his throat. Percy had seen his captor, Lityerses. A skilled swordsman, according to Jason. Lityerses’ cruel smile did nothing to reassure Percy of what was to come. He was marched past those rows of cells, past other demigod prisoners, his friends, to another room.

There he was finally allowed to see Annabeth. Oh gods. His suspicions were correct; Annabeth was to be his opponent. None of that mattered for the moment, because Percy was with his Wise Girl again. 

“Seaweed Brain! Oh my gods that was stupid of you they put up barriers just for that did you really think that would work you could have been killed - “

He silenced her with a kiss. “No, they wouldn’t kill me yet. They’re going to put us in an arena for a death match, in front of Gaea’s forces in all their glory. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” She looked terrible, but Percy probably did too. Neither of them had showered in months, or changed clothes, or brushed their hair. But Percy just wanted to stare into her grey eyes forever.

“Yes, I know Percy, but - but we won’t do it, will we? I know I - hey!”

The guards were back, and one minute was all the time they had to say goodbye for the last time. So be it.

It had been one year since Olympus fell.

One more time, Percy held his trusty ballpoint pen. He resisted the urge to lunge for Lityerses. The swordsman would never be fooled by that trick.

Then came the moment of truth.

Percy was pushed into the arena by another telkhine. With one sharp jab, it was dissolved into yellow dust. Percy received a slap from Lityerses for that, but the crowd loved it. 

The arena was made completely of shifting soil, held up by the power of Gaea. The stands were full of monsters and giants alike, as well as some reborn mortals.

And there was Annabeth. Oh, gods. Percy could barely stand to look at her, at the determined expression on her face, at the stance with which she held her dagger at her side. Her face was nearly unreadable, so Percy had to trust that she wouldn’t attack him. He could most likely defeat her, but neither of them would escape unscathed. 

It could have been a heartbeat or a millennia that they stood sizing each other up. When Lityerses gave a signal, Annabeth rushed at Percy, and he stood shocked where he was, so it was lucky that Annabeth didn’t attack him, instead swept him up in a kiss. It didn’t last long, as a wave of earth fell over them both and swept Annabeth back to her place across the arena. By now there were tears streaming from both Percy’s and Annabeth’s eyes, knowing that that was most likely the last time they would ever kiss each other. Percy dropped Riptide, firmly resolving to never raise arms against annabeth.

“Annabeth, please. Just do it and let’s be done with this forever. Forever, Annabeth.”

“Why would I ever do that, Seaweed Brain?” She gasped between sobs. “I’ll never be able to live with myself.” She stumbled from exhaustion and Percy realized she was just as drained, physically and emotionally, as Percy was. He wondered what exactly Gaea would do if they refused to fight. Whatever it was, it would be preferable to hurting the love of his evidently short life.

Almost completely in sync, they walked towards each other and grabbed each other's hand, facing the audience in defiance. No matter what happened, they would not yield to Gaea’s tyranny.

It had been one year since Olympus fell.

Percy couldn’t remember what happened next, or he refused to. The next thing he knew, he was back in his old cell, not even bothering to struggle with the guards. All he was aware of was the sinking gut feeling that Annabeth was dead, and it was Percy’s fault, somehow. And no matter how much Frank tried to talk to him, or what screams and horrors he heard, Percy could barely make himself sit up to eat, not caring what happened anymore.

And when he was dragged out of his cell to face Polybotes, who had reserved the right to finish the son of Poseidon months before, Percy couldn’t fight back even if he wanted to. At least the cruel giant had the mercy to finish him off somewhat quickly. 

It had been one year since Olympus fell, and that is how the children of the gods were wiped out.

**Author's Note:**

> if somehow anyone sees this, thanks for reading, comments and critiques are much appreciated <3


End file.
